You look at a lily, and you say, “Oh! that is very easy. Just let those pollen boxes fly open, and their dust is sure to hit the pistil, all right.” But not so fast! Let me tell you that many plants do not carry the stamens and pistils all in one flower. The stamens, with the pollen boxes, may be in one flower, and the pistil, with its sticky cushion to catch pollen, may be in another flower. More than that, these flowers, some with stamens, and some with pistils, may not even be all on one plant! Have you ever seen a poplar-tree? The poplar has its stamen-flowers on one tree, and its pistil-flowers on another. The palm-tree is in the same case. Now this affair of stamen and pistil and seed making does not seem quite so easy, does it? And here is still another fact. Seeds are the best and strongest, and most likely to produce good plants, if the pollen comes to the pistil, from a flower not on the same plant. This is true even of such plants as the lily, the tulip, and the columbine, where stamens and pistils grow in one flower. Now you see quite plainly that in some way the pollen should be carried about. The flowers being rooted in one place cannot carry their pollen where it should go. Who shall do it for them? Here is where the insect comes in. Let us look at him. Insects vary much in size. Think of the tiny ant and gnat. Then think of the great bumble bee, or butterfly. You see this difference in size fits them to visit little or big flowers. You have seen the great bumble bee busy in a lily, or a trumpet flower. Perhaps, too, you have seen a little ant, or gnat, come crawling out of the tiny throat of the thyme or sage blossom. And you have seen the wasp and bee, busy on the clover blossom or the honeysuckle. Insects have wings to take them quickly wherever they choose to go. Even the ant, which has cast off its wings,[9] can crawl fast on its six nimble legs. Then, too, many insects have a long pipe, or tongue, for eating. You have seen such a tongue on the bee.[10] In this book you will soon read about the butterfly, with its long tube which coils up like a watch spring. With this long tube the insect can poke into all the slim cups, and horns, and folds, of the flowers of varied shapes. Is it not easy to see that when the insect flies into a flower to feed, it may be covered with the pollen from the stamens? Did you ever watch a bee feeding in a wild rose? You could see his velvet coat all covered with the golden flower dust. Why does the insect go to the flower? He does not know that he is needed to carry pollen about. He never thinks of seed making. He goes into the flower to get food. He eats pollen sometimes, but mostly honey. In business, you know, all the partners wish to make some profit for themselves. The insect partner of the flower has honey for his gains. The flower lays up a drop of honey for him.